[DISCONTINUED] FIND YOU ( T. WALKING DEAD )

- XII.

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FIND YOU

CHAPTER TWELVE;
( identity. )

❛ jack refuses to lend a hand. ❜

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"SO YOU REALLY weren't with those guys?"

"I had no reason to lie. I tried telling you," Elijah sighed with a light-hearted smile, "but no one would hear me out about it."

"No one but Jack," Andrea was swift to correct, taking a drink from the plastic cup in her hands.

And how could Elijah ever forget? It was always no one but Jack. As dense and bratty as she once may have seemed, she'd made quite the imprint on him over the span of their 8 months together. He couldn't believe he almost left her to die all those months ago. She'd become his advisor, counselor, supporter, but most importantly: the only person he trusted anymore.

But then here he was: keeping up with his lie after all that time. As far as Jack was concerned, Elijah had nothing to do with Randall or the others - and he wanted to keep it that way. At this point, lying was easier than telling the truth. (Mostly, he didn't want to have to admit that he lied to save his life. It was so much more than that. Jack was smart enough to know that aside from lying, he just used her to free himself.)

"Yeah," he nodded, gulping nervously, "she's... something else, I guess."

To him, there were no words to describe her. She oscillated between not caring and caring too much; between, "I don't really care if they stay here or not," and, "C'mon, go talk to her, she's not that bad."

"She's different now," Andrea breathed with a slight nod. "I've been trying to figure out what it is that's changed, but..."

Elijah broke out into a small smile; it was nice to know that he wasn't alone in being bewildered by Jack's very demeanor. "Yeah," he agreed, "the, uh... the winter was rough, to say the least." He was so close to spilling all of the ugly details, telling her all about how they'd go days without food or how many times they came close to being torn apart. Instead, he shook the memories from his mind and began to focus more on the present. His mission, as assigned by Jack, was to advertise and convince. "But the people here, the Governor and everyone, they saw something in us. Being out there that long ruins you, but Woodbury is good at fixing you... It's home, and homes are scarce these days."

Andrea was quiet for a moment. Her eyes were glued to the garden beside them, then to the bustling streets, before she finally looked back to Elijah, walking patiently at her side. "The Governor...," she started, "he's a good man?"